Just as the flagship 4000 series covered in the February issue was enjoying its U.S. debut at the Miami International Boat Show, Garmin upped the ante by showing prototypes of its even newer flagship 5000 series. The four models—eight- and 12-inch units, each with a choice of built-in chart portfolios—are very similar to the 4000 series except they’re almost completely touch-screen-operated. The exception will be optional wireless mice and remote controls (note how the Logitech Harmony remote series could serve).
Further revealed at the show was the unique ability of both series to render radar imagery onto the “mariner’s eye” topside view, and fishfinder imagery onto a separate “fish eye” 3-D view, plus a handsome engine-gauge screen for those boats that can take advantage of the NMEA 2000 compatibility built into these multifunction displays. The 5000 series will range from $3,314 to $4,000 and, like the 4000 series, is expected to ship before summer. Also debuting in Miami was Maestro, an interesting PC-based touch-screen navigation, monitoring, and communications system created by gauge maker Faria with help from Maptech. Maestro will be detailed here next month.
Garmin
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This article originally appeared in the May 2007 issue of Power & Motoryacht magazine.
